The World Cup fever reaches Catalan frozen food stores

Barcelona"When you get to the kiosk, they already ask you if you want World Cup stickers. They can tell by your face. The first question is: ‘Do you have them?’. And the second: ‘When will more arrive? They are selling out in many places’", explains Albert Valor, a collector.Albert Valor, collector. "This year they are selling more than ever. It's hard to find them because sales are exceeding Panini's expectations", confirms Ferran Roig, manager of the Euro Soccer Cards sticker shop.

"The lack of stock has created a FOMO effect and people are buying whole boxes. Some kiosk owners limit purchases to five or ten packs per customer so that everyone can have some", adds Valor, who has found World Cup stickers at La Sirena: "It's the most bizarre place I've bought them from. You can get a box of prawns and some packs". José Elías saw the business and sells them in some of his frozen food stores – not all of them –.

he saw the business and in some of his frozen food stores – not all – he sells it.

Ferran Roig, who is also a stallholder at the Sant Antoni market and who has been sweating it out the last few weekends: "I work much more because the demand is higher and, of course, we close later. It's madness." It's enough to walk around the market on a Sunday morning to confirm it. Wherever you look, there are people of all ages exchanging stickers, which for a long time has no longer been something for children.

"There is also a touch of nostalgia. Collecting stickers connects people with their childhood. In many cases, a specific World Cup is linked to the fond memory of a summer and is the first connection with football," reflects Albert Valor, who has all the sticker collections since the 1994 United States World Cup, when he started buying them with his grandfather. That's when he fell in love with the ball.

Messi and Lamine's World Cup

"This World Cup is very special because it is the last for many legendary players. This is the case for Messi, Cristiano, Modric or Neymar. And it is also the first for Lamine Yamal", explains Juli Sàenz, an expert in the field. "And it is also for Tim Payne – he is a player from New Zealand who has gone viral worldwide in recent days–. He is quite sought after", adds Sergi Navas, Juli's partner on the channel Cazacamisetas, where they create content about collecting football shirts and stickers. "The stars have aligned. All this explains why this World Cup collection is a hit. It would only have been missing if it were Panini's last, but it is the second to last", says Sergi, referring to the fact that from the 2034 World Cup onwards, Topps will become the official supplier of World Cup stickers. Sixty years later, the marriage between FIFA and Panini will be broken.

"The most sought after are Messi, Lamine and Cristiano. Their basic sticker for the 2026 World Cup costs around 10 euros. As soon as I get them, they want them", explains Ferran Roig, who in addition to packs and boxes also sells individual stickers and cards from all collections: "The most expensive I have sold from the World Cup is an extra sticker gold of Lamine for 180 euros".

"The extra stickers are like a kind of gift that Panini gives outside the standard collection of 980 stickers. There are 80 different ones; they are 20 players, top of the World Cup, who appear in base, bronze, silver, or gold. Most people don't get them, it's an exclusive product for big fans," says Juli. "They are very difficult to get. Approximately one extra sticker appears every 100 packs, every two boxes. These are the base ones. The theory goes that a gold sticker appears every 800 packs. For collectors it's a brutal challenge," adds Sergi, who already has 54 out of the 80 extra stickers from the World Cup.

A million dollars for a sticker

"Beyond the World Cup, the topic of trading cards has been very popular for a long time. Not so much the "}stickers, which are the ones you stick on, but the cards. Some have become a kind of cryptocurrency. And this has a lot to do with the interest of Americans in the football market," reveals Albert Valor. "The most sought after are the "}rookies, a concept that refers to a player's first card, from their debut season. There's one of Messi, from 2004-05, that has been sold for a million dollars," he adds.

"The price depends on the condition of the card – there's a company that specializes in this, and Messi's, which was sold for a million, has a grade of 10 out of 10 – and it fluctuates based on the player's performance. If he's having a good season or scores a hat-trick in an important match, the value of that card will increase. But Lamine's goes beyond that; Lamine has an aura. When he got injured, his price continued to rise. This has only happened with Messi," says Sergi.

"It has been established that the new king of trading cards, the one who will succeed Messi, is Lamine. No matter how many titles and Ballons d'Or Mbappé or Olise win, the most sought-after card in the world will be his. That's why collectors are going crazy buying them," summarizes Juli, who already has the four "}extra stickers of Messi and Lamine and who completed the World Cup album days ago, the collection that has arrived in Catalan frozen food stores.